HOPEDALE - After the school district’s budget increase was reduced from 4.6 percent to 3.3 percent, pay increases for teachers have raised that number to 3.59 percent.At Tuesday’s school committee meeting, Superintendent Dennis Breen told board members that the budget has increased from the $10,541,727 proposed at a meeting in February.The new budget proposal is $10,571,200, an increase of about $366,090 from the current budget.But with all town departments limited to a 2 percent increase, cuts must be made somehwere.According to Breen, this is the time of year when teachers are required to notify the district of lane and step increases based on additional courses and certifications, which result in pay increases.Another reason for the increase, he said, is the addition of a special education teacher at Hopedale Jr.-Sr. High School.The position was removed from the budget for the current fiscal year as the teacher took another position, so the district filled the void with substitutes and temporary employees, Breen said.But that approach has not been as efficient as the district would have liked, he added."It’s not as effective has having a special education teacher, particularly programmatically with what the special education department at the junior-senior high school is trying to do," he said.The position pays a salary of $45,000, Breen said.Cost savings may come with the reduction of one kindergarten session due to projections showing a decrease in kindergarten enrollment, he said, but that discussion is ongoing and a decision won't be made until the district gets a better handle on next year’s enrollment.Another area of savings would come from prepaying of FY 2015’s out-of-district special education tuitions with funds left over from the current fiscal year, but Breen said how much will be left has yet to be determined."That would reduce the number much closer to 2 percent," he said.Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.